Sony is set to unveil more details about its PlayStation 4 console today at its E3 press conference, an event that will hopefully include a first glimpse of the actual device.

Among the things we do know, however, is that a partnership with Ustream will allow for multi-casting, so gamers can schedule a set time and broadcast a game live. Hit the Share button on the PS4 controller and show off your gameplay skills through Ustream, as well as Facebook.

PCMag spoke with Ustream CEO and founder Brad Hunstable about the Sony partnership as well as the live, pay-per-view program (Open PPV) it launched in February.

PCMag: Can you tell us a little bit about Ustream?
Today we continue to be, by far, the largest live, social platform for video, basically in the world. We reach on a monthly basis now 79 million people. We continue to see just tremendous growth in the business, [particularly] on the SAAS [software as a service] side and the platform that we've built.

The PS4 announcement is a great example of the robust nature of what we built and the power of what we built. Sony announced integration with Ustream in the PS4, which we really think is a game-changing solution for gamers. So with a very easy click of a button, gamers will be able to share their game play both on Ustream and all the other social platforms that are out there. The easiest way I think about this is gamers literally now have the ability to direct, they have the ability to produce, and essentially star in their own video-game production show, if you will. And they have the potential to reach millions of audiences all over the world.

The way I've been thinking about it is the PS4 is the modern-day cable box, Ustream is the modern-day cable provider, and the gamer in this case is the modern-day actor or star of their own show.

So we really think it's a sign of changing times and blurring the lines between gaming and reality and social media and gaming and new media and traditional media, and we really think it's going to bring a whole new dimension to the gaming community, just purely because [it's] easy to do that from the PS4.

It's a really interesting opportunity, [and] we think it's going to have really high engagement. In fact, Ustream typically has very long [viewing] times on our videos, well over 20 minutes. We expect that to be even higher through some of the gameplay.

PCMag: How did the partnership with Sony and the PS4 come about? We've been partners with Sony for a very long time. We've worked with all the different business units that they have. On the device side, we're pre-loaded on various devices like TVs, we've worked with Sony Music, and we work with Sony's production studio, so we have a really long-standing relationship. And ultimately, Sony needed a solution or a partner that had the global reach and scale and reliability to do this live and no one has that better than we do. They needed a company that was mature enough and has really reliable quality assurances to be able to do this at a scale and a global nature like never before. So, it's been in the works [for a while] and we're really excited about it.

PCMag: What should someone tuning in to someone else's gaming session on Ustream expect to see? We're not talking about exactly what the gamer would see, but on the viewer side, it would be like a live game play of what's happening in the game. And that would be shared through the different social platforms, including Ustream, and there's an opportunity to have two-way communication. So you can imagine watching your buddy play on his own PS4 on Ustream and being able to communicate with him and interact with him through gameplay.

PCMag: Like Web comments? There are a variety of mechanisms but primarily through [things like] comments.

PCMag: Is there any concern about bandwidth given that gamers tend to play for hours on end? There's not. From our standpoint, we built the platform that's global in nature and cost-effective and there's obviously a business model behind this as well, so there's not a concern there. We actually think it's a really big opportunity. When you have people engaged for really long periods of time, as we do, there's a really unique opportunity to monetize and build businesses. Take for example, the Sony PS4 announcement that was actually on Ustream. Well over 8 million people tuned in to watch the announcement live. It reached a peak simultaneous concurrent of 1 million people. If you take a step back and think about that for a moment, that's the size of a primetime TV audience, and this was a two-hour broadcast. Probably the most interesting stat was the fact that these people watched for, on average, one hour straight. And so, these are very highly engaged communities, people connected across the world through various devices, and our belief is that's a really big business opportunity as well.

This is a real pinnacle moment in media and communications, especially around corporate brands. The PS4 event was the second, massive broadcast that we've had in one week where we'd never seen two 8 million view, 1 million concurrent broadcasts at one time. The other one was the NASA asteroid that flew by. It reached about the same size as the Sony broadcast and that happened in one week.

PCMag: Will this play into Ustream's pay-per-view option (Open PPV)? Initially, no, but we do think there is [a possibility down the road]. One of the unique aspects of Ustream is that we built this platform that's flexible enough for a variety of consumer segments. And part of the segments want to be able to monetize by charging for it. And so, by building that capability, we have people that are already, through the beta program, making tens of thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars, by charging for their content. And that's just an alternative to advertising, which is a fantastic way to monetize video. So are subscriptions and so is pay-per-view; they're both really powerful capabilities that we've now given to the hands to broadcasters of all size.

PCMag: Why did you launch Open PPV? We saw a very real need in the marketplace to allow broadcasters to monetize as an alternative to advertising. Not all broadcasters want to put ads against their ads; in fact, some of them wanted to be more exclusive. In many cases, some of them want to limit or charge very steep ticket prices [and] the economics just wouldn't work under an advertising model. We allow any broadcaster to be able to sign up and do this, [and] it's a really unique way for people to make significant amounts of revenue and monetize what they're creating in a new way.

PCMag: Is this targeted at any particular type of organization or group? That's one of the key differentiators between us and some of the other video platforms and services that are out there. We built a product that can serve and address organizations and broadcasters of various size – from the very big, like the UFC, who uses it, or World Cup qualifying games or very large organizations that are charging for content – all the way down to small- to medium-sized broadcasters. It's a really unique strategy that we have and only [possible] because we built the technology in such a simple and reliable and ubiquitous way.

PCMag: How does Ustream make money from Open PPV? Their job is to go create amazing and incredible content and we give them the tools. As part of that, there's a revenue share. In our SAAS business, you can pay a tech fee and the revenue share actually goes down. But it's primarily going to be monetized through splitting that with the broadcasters.

PCMag:There's no pre-screening; is there a concern about objectionable content? We absolutely have a terms of service, we absolutely will be monitoring content and ensure that it's in line with that. We run fingerprinting and various technologies [to make sure it's] safe and respectable and clearly in line with the brand we're looking to build. So we don't have the concern. Luckily there's a lot of other places on the Internet to go do those things, but Ustream's not going to be one of them.

About the Author

Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe covered financial IT for Incisive Media in NYC and technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's deg... See Full Bio

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